Flannery yet to discount grand final appearance

CHRIS Flannery expects his specialist will tell him not to play in the NRL grand final, but he hasnt given up hope of winning a second premiership on Sunday night.

The Roosters utility player underwent surgery on a ruptured testicle on Tuesday night and is considered only an outside chance of playing against the Bulldogs at Telstra Stadium.

He wont train until at least Saturday when the decision is likely to be made on whether he will keep his place on the Roosters interchange bench.

"(Coach) Ricky (Stuart) has given me as long as I need," the former Kawana junior said yesterday.

"Ill just how to see how Im feeling. At the moment, its pretty sore. I cant sit up for long and will just spend a couple of days on my back.

"Im going back to the specialist on Friday and I think hell tell me not to play.

"Thats pretty much what hes told me already."

The Queensland State of Origin suffered the unusual injury shortly after coming on to the field against North Queensland last Sunday.

He copped a knee from a Cowboys player and was in some pain for the rest of the 80 minutes.

But it wasnt until Flannery was back in the dressing room after the narrow win that he saw how badly bruised the area had become.

"After the game I had a look and it was black, he said.

"Its pretty shattering...just for it to happen this week.

"Im still hopeful that Ill play on Sunday but well just have to wait and see how it recovers."

The 24-year-old has developed a reputation as one of the NRLs most versatile players and a strong performance in the grand final, should he play, would greatly enhance his chances of a callup to the Australian squad.

Flannery has played in 22 games this season for the Roosters and despite coming off the bench in a majority of his games is one of the sides top tacklers, averaging 29 a game.